Lecture and Master Class with Andrea Masu

Incompiuto, the birth of a style

Please join us for two upcoming Global Emergent Media Lab events (in collaboration with the Institute for Urban Futures) about the birth of a new architectural style and politics in postwar Italy, and globally:

Lecture will be followed by a discussion with Joshua Neves (GEM), Federico Rahola (University of Genoa), and David K. Ross (Concordia University, Post Image Cluster)

Questions:

How can we read the landscape in order to reshape the perception we have of it?

How can we create a new narrative in order to activate effective strategies to intervene in the public realm?

How can we implement a visionary design in order to express what is hidden and unvoiced?

About:

The ongoing work of research, mapping and study of the phenomenon of the unfinished public works in Italy has led to the definition of a new architectural style: the Incompiuto, More than 850 unfinished works throughout the country, financed by public money and permanently interrupted for various reasons (design errors, violations of building regulations, bankruptcy, inaccurate economic evaluations, draining of funds), represent a cultural and artistic heritage useful for a broader understanding of the relations between the territory, power and those who inhabit it. Attributing an artistic and architectural significance to the unfinished works means devising another way to read these sites revealing what is in potential, unspoken, invisible.

Andrea Masu is an Italian artist and activist whose work combines artistic practice with the social and alternative functions of new media. In 2000 he is one of the founders of the Italian chapter of Indymedia, an international network of independent media activists and organizations. In 2012 he is among the workers who open Macao, a center for art, culture and research in Milan. Since 2008 he is visiting professor and lecturer at universities and cultural institutions in Italy and internationally. He taught at NABA, Milan, and RISD, Providence-US. Masu is also a founding member of the artist collective Alterazioni Video, a group that works to reclaim spaces of communication and social imagination that have historically been controlled and disciplined by power’s systems. In this endeavor, the group pursues a variety of projects in the “colorful zone" between art and politics. Their work has been exhibited internationally in museums and institutions including the 52nd International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale (Venice), Manifesta 7 (Italy), MoMA PS1 (New York), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin), Maxxi Museum (Rome), and Hamburger Bahnhof Museum (Berlin), among others.

About

The ongoing work of research, mapping and study of the phenomenon of the unfinished public works in Italy has led to the definition of a new architectural style: the Incompiuto, More than 850 unfinished works throughout the country, financed by public money and permanently interrupted for various reasons (design errors, violations of building regulations, bankruptcy, inaccurate economic evaluations, draining of funds), represent a cultural and artistic heritage useful for a broader understanding of the relations between the territory, power and those who inhabit it. Attributing an artistic and architectural significance to the unfinished works means devising another way to read these sites revealing what is in potential, unspoken, invisible.

Bio

Andrea Masu is an Italian artist and activist whose work combines artistic practice with the social and alternative functions of new media. In 2000 he is one of the founders of the Italian chapter of Indymedia, an international network of independent media activists and organizations. In 2012 he is among the workers who open Macao, a center for art, culture and research in Milan. Since 2008 he is visiting professor and lecturer at universities and cultural institutions in Italy and internationally. He taught at NABA, Milan, and RISD, Providence-US. Masu is also a founding member of the artist collective Alterazioni Video, a group that works to reclaim spaces of communication and social imagination that have historically been controlled and disciplined by power’s systems. In this endeavor, the group pursues a variety of projects in the “colorful zone" between art and politics. Their work has been exhibited internationally in museums and institutions including the 52nd International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale (Venice), Manifesta 7 (Italy), MoMA PS1 (New York), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin), Maxxi Museum (Rome), and Hamburger Bahnhof Museum (Berlin), among others.